Updated 10/07/2025 - corrected typos.
AI Tools
There are a lot of AI tools around including Microsoft’s Copilot and OpenAI’s ChatGPT. I used a couple of different ones to look back at the blog from last month’s meeting.
I used Claude, from a company called Anthropic, to generate this 1-page summary and bullet points:-
https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/r5pwu4fmpafm5sjdv5s09/2025-06-Claude-overview-and-bullet-points.pdf?rlkey=zgpfyh0odzvkm4un0aeso7s1j&st=n7ikilgq&dl=0
If you want to try using Claude, go to:-
https://claude.ai/
and create a free account.
I also used Google’s NotebookLM to generate this audio file which turned the blog from last time into a 7-minute chat between 2 presenters:-
https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/t5oxnzp4aqwhxepamrhkb/2025-06-NotebookLM.wav?rlkey=uhlzy6wf6ffz9pjhlelimmiwj&st=lh67fprk&dl=0
If you want to try using NotebookLM, go to:-
https://notebooklm.google.com/
and sign in with your Google account.
Windows 10 – Extended Security Updates (ESU)
As we have mentioned several times before, Microsoft is ending support for Windows 10 on the 14th October this year. This means that it will not receive any further security updates after that date.
We have also discussed ways to force your PC to update to Windows 11, even if it does not meet some of the hardware requirements. See the blogs from our meetings in November 2021 and February 2025:-
https://computerclub100.blogspot.com/2021/11/
https://computerclub100.blogspot.com/2025/02/
Another option could be to remove Windows completely and install Linux. See the blog from 27th May 2020 for more on this:-
https://computerclub100.blogspot.com/2020/05/
It has been known for some time that Microsoft is going to allow consumers to buy another year of updates for $30. (Business can purchase up to 3 years of updates at much higher prices).
However, Microsoft have recently announced (on June 24th) that there are now two free options for consumers to get a further year of updates – see this article from The Verge:-
https://www.theverge.com/news/691811/microsoft-windows-10-free-extended-security-updates
So, you can either:-
1. Redeem 1000 Microsoft Reward points, or
2. Use Windows Backup to sync your settings to the cloud.
If you want to know how to earn Microsoft Reward points, see this Microsoft Support article:-
https://support.microsoft.com/en-gb/account-billing/how-to-earn-microsoft-rewards-points-83179747-1807-7a5e-ce9d-a7c544327174
To check how many Reward points you already have go to:-
https://rewards.bing.com/
You will need to sign in with your Microsoft Account.
An “enrolment wizard” is being added to Windows 10 this month where you can select whether you want to pay, use points, or use Backup.
Note that, although security updates for Windows 10 end on 14th October this year (unless you extend as above), Windows Defender will still get updates, and Microsoft 365 apps (e.g. Word, Excel, Outlook, etc) will get security updates, both until 10th October 2028.
Windows 10 remains popular in the UK and around the World. Windows 11 has overtaken Windows 10 in the UK, but 10 still has 39% of the desktop market:-
https://gs.statcounter.com/windows-version-market-share/desktop/united-kingdom
Emergency Alert Test
The government announced on Monday (7th July) that there will be another test of the UK Emergency Alert System. This test will take place on Sunday 7th September 2025 at 3pm – see this government web page for more details:-
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/emergency-alert-test-frequently-asked-questions
This is the second test of the system, which should appear on most mobile phones which are connected to the 4G or 5G networks. The first test was on the 23rd April 2023 and we discussed that up-coming test at the Club in April 2023:-
https://computerclub100.blogspot.com/2023/04/
These alerts could be vital, so most users will want to receive them. However, you can disable them on your phone, perhaps if you have multiple phones or a ‘secret’ phone for personal protection. To enable/disable or check the Emergency Alert settings on your phone, go to Settings and search for “Emergency Alerts”.
Tony asked if these alerts could be issued on a regional basis. I believe they can be issued from cell towers in a particular region, although I am not sure how granular this can be.
Windows 11 -25H2
Microsoft have announced that the next feature update to Windows 11 will be version 25H2. So, there won’t be a “Windows 12” this year. As usual, 25H2 will be released later this year, around October.
You can read more in this article by Paul Thurrott:-
https://www.thurrott.com/windows/windows-11/322732/microsoft-announces-windows-11-version-25h2?
This article contains a link to Microsoft’s blog post of 27th June this year for even more detail.
Quishing
The general term ‘phishing’, meaning to use social engineering to maliciously extract personal data, has spawned several more specific terms. Smishing is phishing via SMS. Vishing is tricking you via a voice call. Mishing refers to phishing attacks via mobile devices, Now we have Quishing which is an attack through a malicious QR code.
We discussed this back in February 2023:-
https://computerclub100.blogspot.com/2023/02/
(Look for the heading QR Code Scams)
On the 20th June this year, Action Fraud, the national fraud and cyber crime reporting centre run by the Police, published this article:-
https://www.actionfraud.police.uk/news/qr-codes
According to this report, car parks are most common place to find malicious QR codes where hackers have stuck a fake QR code over the original valid one. Be very cautious when scanning any QR code in a public place.
The fake QR codes will take you to a fake website which will attempt to extract your credentials.
Death of the Blue Screen of Death?
Well, not really – Black is now the new Blue. It’s becoming the Black Screen of Death instead! At least we can still use the abbreviation, BSOD. This is the error screen which Microsoft Windows displays when the system crashes and it looks something like this:-
It will then try to reboot. After 3 attempts to reboot, it will offer Startup Repair options. The BSOD has had a few minor design changes, but is essentially the same as it was 40 years ago.
Along with the change from Blue to Black, Microsoft are introducing a new Quick Machine Recovery feature. This is a response to the CrowdStrike update error last year which caused 8.5 million Windows systems to crash. Because these systems could not automatically recover, they needed intervention by a technician so they could be booted into Safe Mode to fix the issue. That caused prolonged chaos worldwide. See our discussion from August last year for more about the CrowdStrike issue:-
https://computerclub100.blogspot.com/2024/08/
Presumably, the Quick Machine Recovery feature would have been able to automate the fix in the CrowdStrike case, without the need for a technician to physically attend the system. These changes will be introduced later this year. Hopefully, your systems will never crash, so you will never see this in action!
See this article from The Verge for more:-
https://www.theverge.com/news/692648/microsoft-bsod-black-screen-of-death-color-change-official
Charging and Batteries
Tony had an issue where his iPad was reporting a battery level of only 10%, even though it remained on charge. As Dave pointed out, this was probably an error in the software which was reporting the battery level, rather than an actual problem with the battery. When software 'gets confused' this can usually be addressed by a reboot, and that seemed to have solved the issue in this case.
Tony also mentioned Low Power Mode. I have looked into this a little more after the meeting. This is a feature that reduces the power consumption temporarily by reducing the display brightness, disabling some visual effects, turning off automatic downloads, etc. You will be prompted to turn on Low Mode Mode when the battery level reaches 20% and again at 10%. You can turn it on at any time by going into Settings, Battery. Once the battery is changed back up to 80%, Low Power Mode will be disabled. This article explains more:-
https://www.businessinsider.com/guides/tech/low-power-mode
Android phones have a similar feature which may be called Battery Saver.
We had some discussion about the wattage of changers. After the meeting I found this article by Anker, who sell a range of well-respected chargers:-
https://www.anker.com/blogs/chargers/how-many-watts-is-a-phone-charger
Batteries in main-stream mobile devices are very reliable, but they have a limited life and may ultimately fail. They can be replaced by your local mobile phone shop - some people reported success doing this. To be 100% sure with Apple devices, you can take them into an Apple store.
If you have problems charging, it is worth trying a different charger and cable. Also check that there is no dirt/debris in the port on the device.
Google Error Message
Allan had an issue where Google (google.com) was coming up with an error message saying "Our systems have detected unusual traffic from your computer network" followed by a CAPTCHA (or several). I haven't seen this message. After the meeting Dave sent suggestions (which I passed to Allan) based on the AI summary of a Google search. Here is a Google Support page on the topic:-
https://support.google.com/websearch/answer/86640?hl=en
We suggested trying a different browser. If that worked, disabling browser extensions might be worth a try.
Running a full virus scan would be advisable to check for any malware. In addition to the current anti-virus software, I would suggest trying Malwarebytes - there is more about this in our blog from the Club last October:-
https://computerclub100.blogspot.com/2024/10/
Next Session
Wed 13th August at 2pm by Zoom
